Tactful or Tacky? We’re Judging the Wildest Frugal Wedding Fails
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Taxful or tacky? Today we're talking about the frugal wedding fails of the century. So to see like an older woman do that, I would feel bad. In a gown. In a gown. That's crazy. That's crazy. We got to draw the line somewhere. We wouldn't have been friends right now. This podcast would not exist. This would not have existed. Hey guys, I'm Rachel Cruz. I'm George Camel. And this is Smart Money Happy Hour.

Well, this is the show where two friends who happen to be money experts talk about what you're talking about. Everything from pop culture, current events, and money. And before we get to the frugal wedding fails, let's talk about what we're sipping on, Rachel. It's an Aperol Tequila Sour. And you know, I love all three of those words. Really good. So stick around until the end. We're going to give you our rating and reveal the cost per glass. You don't want to miss it.

That's right. Okay. So personal finance, Rachel, looks different for everyone. That's why we call it personal finance. But there's a few major life events that the majority of the population has to navigate financially. Yeah, I think there's a lot of these. So you think about, you know, college, maybe renegotiating your salary, buying a home. Like there's some big purchases or situations in life when it comes to money. And one of the biggest are weddings. It's gotten out of control. It's a huge life event. Da-da-da-da-da.

It can come with a high cost, and some people are wiser about this than others. That is true, which is so unfortunate. But you guys, you and Whitney had a pretty successful wedding story financially. Actually, it's pretty insane. You've talked about it on this podcast before. Yeah, it's not relatable. So hashtag unrelatable. Yeah, but responsible. Whitney found a local wedding contest that was a free wedding package worth $28,000, and we won.

And you were hosting the Ramsey show at the time and asked all the viewers to vote for you, right? So we had the best video. So aside from that, it was merit-based. We had the best wedding story captured on video, and we got the most likes on our video within a week. That was the contest stipulations. But $28,000. I didn't think it was real. I thought it was like, we're going to get scammed. Yeah, so what did they pay for in that? Everything. But here's the kicker. It only included 50 people, which includes the bride, the groom, the bridal party, and

So by the time you get to the invites, you can invite 10 people. Yeah, and then y'all did a big reception after. So then we threw a second wedding reception after the first wedding ceremony and reception, and that ended up costing us a lot of money. Yes.

Yeah, was it a frugal fail? More than 28,000? No, no, not near that. Came out well, George. Yeah. I know, and at first I thought, I didn't go to your wedding. And then memory served me correctly, and I was there. I knew I invited you. On the second reception. I remember thinking, the cruises will get us a good gift. We should invite them. What did I get you? I don't remember. Probably Financial Peace, maybe Financial Peace University. Stop it, whatever. No, I'm sure it was a wonderful gift. Terrible, that's good. Do you regret wasting money on anything for your wedding or a frugal fail?

I don't know. I feel like we were pretty... You focused on the stuff that mattered. Yeah. I mean, I think we did like... Like back then you would mail out save the dates. Oh, yeah. I feel like people don't do that as much anymore. Yeah, we mailed ours out. I kind of regret. I feel like people don't mail out save the dates. I feel like people just are like... Or maybe they do. I don't know. It feels like one of these old timey things that you hearken back to. Like we did that. We should send physical save the dates. We had very... I like loved like really formal wedding invitations. Yeah.

So I probably could have like chilled out on that. Yeah. Like I had like the tissue thing. Like I was like, I want it like, I wanted my wedding formal. There was something about it. Even my dress where I was like, I don't want this just to be a party. Like this is,

Like, I was like, if I'm walking down the street in my dress, I want people to be like, that's a bride. Not like, oh, she could be going to the prom. Like, I want it to look like a wedding dress. You didn't want something too trendy and modern. Yeah, I want it to look like a wedding dress. I want it in a center aisle. I want it in a church. Like, I was like, I want very, like, traditional things with my wedding. I love it. So because of that, I don't know. I made my bridesmaids wear champagne color in December. So that was real sad. Is that a no-no? Sorry, everyone. No, they all probably—

Sprite tans weren't even like a thing then, you know? Oh, so you're saying everyone's pale. It's just terrible. Yeah, a terrible color to pick into. I only have tan friends. So really, really sorry, Bridesmaid. We had a frugal fail though and you were at this reception. Yeah. Instead of doing an open bar because it was going to be astronomically expensive at like a Marriott to do an open bar, we decided to prepay for a certain number of, you know, bottles of wine, certain number of beers. We thought this will be enough. That's like two drinks per person. We did the math. Oh no, we party, George. And...

Within 30 minutes, they said they ran out of alcohol. And I was like, did they jip us? Did they skimp on us? Because there's no way that two drinks per person, everything's gone in 30 minutes. I just didn't believe that. Sure. So what was the truth? I don't know to this day. So did you get upcharged then after? They didn't upcharge. I think it turned into cash bar after that. Oh, okay. So we were okay with that. Okay, beyond two drinks per person, it's on you. Yeah, that's fair. We were okay with that. But apparently...

That didn't happen. Party hardy. Man. Oh, gosh. Yeah. Well, I think what's hard is like in the moment, like the weddings, especially the mishaps, the things that end up like, oh, crap, that didn't go the way we wanted it. It feels like a massive deal, right? Because this is like the day, especially for girls. You dream about it your whole childhood. I mean, it's a big, big deal. But then, you know, you look back sometimes and the mistakes...

And the flops are kind of what makes the memories, you know? And it doesn't make the marriage. No, it does not. Wow, well said. Maybe the worse the wedding goes, the better your marriage is going to be. I'd like to see a study on that. Oh, that's good. You know what I always think about too? Rings. Like the bigger the diamond. Oh, yeah. Shakier the marriage. Isn't that terrible to think? I guess I'm doing really good then. Sorry, Whitney.

So whether you're wedding planning, maybe you're looking for money-saving hacks, maybe you're 20 years into a marriage and you just want to be entertained, maybe your kids are going to get married one day. Today's episode is going to deliver. Yeah, and so we're going to talk about these wedding fails slash trying to be very budget conscious, maybe a little cheap in some cases. So we're going to say, is that tactful?

Or tacky. And play along in the comments and stick around later. We're going to share our own list of non-negotiables when it comes to planning a budget-friendly but memorable wedding. All right, you ready? Let's do this. What's the first frugal wedding fail? And did we get these from the internet? These are from the internet, if I'm not mistaken. That's where everything, all good things come from. All happens.

All right, first up, we have spray-painted grass. So this person went to a wedding at an old, rustic estate that used to be fancy. When they got home, their feet and shoes were bright green. Oh, no. Because they had spray-painted the grass to make it look better for pictures. At least the pictures turned out nice.

Is that tactful or tacky? I don't think it's tacky. I think it's tactful. They just didn't think through what would happen on the other side. But I think it's a good idea because it's cheap to get some grass spray paint. You can just make it look nice and lush and green. I'm going tactful. Why not?

Or just make your wedding video and photos black and white. No one can tell what color the grass was. That's smart too. Life hack. There you go. Just all black and white photos. Okay, next one. Mashed potato exit. Already love this. Wow. Leftover rice on the ground is bad for birds and sparklers can get pricey. So a friend of mine had guests...

tossed potato flakes for the send-off, thinking it would look like white confetti. No, no. It had rained all day, so the water mixed with the flakes and mashed potato clumps were everywhere, on the ground, in bridesmaids' hair, etc. Boy, oh boy, do I want to know what is in the etc. part. Okay, that's funny. Potato flakes? That is funny. I am going to go tacky. It feels weird throwing food. I guess rice is considered, but people don't do rice anymore. Is that a thing? It really is.

I don't know. Rice? Is it a cultural thing? Yeah, I don't think people do rice anymore. I think that, like, people would do rice. But I think it is sparklers. We had stuff thrown. What was that? What did we have thrown? I think we did sparklers. Because I did. I wanted tradition. I wanted to, like, run through a thing falling. Oh. I love that. We did glow sticks. Cute. Just like that.

So that was fun. Cute. I like that. What did we do? Ours may have just been confetti or something. That makes sense. I don't know, but I, yeah. What year were you guys married? 09. Okay, and we were 2018. So the times had changed. Oh, yeah. Yeah. We moved on to glow sticks, apparently. From confetti. From confetti to glow sticks. Graduated.

So that one, I'm going to go tacky on that one. I will too. The food thing just throws me, but creative still. Yeah. All right, next. No floral waste. I've been to a few weddings where the bridesmaids bouquets were reused for centerpieces. We just dropped our flowers in the empty vases on the table and people arrived and we still had the option to keep them afterwards. I thought it was resourceful. And one less thing to keep up with all night. Tactful or tacky? Love it. I'm going tactful on this one. I am too. We did this.

Good. Yes. Because the bridesmaids don't want to carry around this bouquet. Yeah, no, we like literally use their, we do the exact same thing. Pop it in the vase. Yes, we did the same thing. Centerpiece, done. I think it's great. Reduce, reuse, recycle. I know, man. Gosh. Yeah, that was one thing. And I feel like my bouquet, I even put, we put on like the, like our like parties table too. Like I think we even use my bouquet too for the center. So I didn't carry it around. Oh.

But yeah, I don't know. I thought it was resourceful and great. We should normalize not carrying stuff around. Nobody wants to carry anything around. No. Get rid of the flowers. Except for...

A throw blanket that's so comfortable from Cozy Earth. I don't know who's carrying that around. All day around my house, I am, like a cape. Just wearing it? Yes. Like a superhero? The soft, fuzzy one. It's like, and it's the lighter. It's not the huge one. It's kind of like the medium size. Oh, yes. Okay. I put that sucker on and I wear that around. That is tactful. Tactful. The Cozy Earth blankets, y'all, are unbelievable. Unbelievable. So soft. My kids are like fighting over it. And I'm like, this is mom's blanket.

This is mommy. You know, as a mom, you got to be selfish sometimes, like for yourself. Take care of yourself first. So then like your goodness overflows, right? So like, and that's my blanket. Don't touch my blanket, kids. Don't touch my blanket. Well, and they get grimy. Yeah. Little kid hands. I don't know what they've been touching. 100%, George. Yeah, that. Now the pajamas, the sheets, like they're, you know, I'm holding them all day. They're in our bed. And the more they come in in the morning, snuggle up. They love the cozier sheets. Like I'm good. You can be all there.

Don't be my blanket, though. Don't be like that. And my favorite that's just arrived today—

New PJs for my wife. Yes. And if they're white, if you're a bride, we're talking about weddings. Oh, there we go. That would be a really great like for your honeymoon. I didn't think about that. So smart. Okay. This is a genius wedding gift that she will love and she's not expecting. Go check it out. You get up to 40% off when you use the promo code smart money on everything on the site. So go check it out. CozyEarth.com slash smart money. Use promo code smart money at checkout. Good stuff. We'll drop a link in the description as well. Make sure to check it out. So amazing stuff.

All right, next up on our frugal wedding fails list, return window wedding decor. Let's see what this one is. I'm planning to order my reception decor from Amazon so I can repackage and return it within 90 days after the wedding. May have to sacrifice a few stained tablecloths here and there, but I bet I'll get most of my money back on the stuff that still looks as good as new.

That feels wrong to me. Oh, this is basically a free rental at that point. Yeah. As much as I want to say taxful, even I have to go tacky on this one. Wow, if George Campbell goes tacky on a money-saving idea. If we didn't end up using it and we got it and didn't use it, I'll return it. It's the same feeling I have with people that wear clothes and leave the tag on.

And then go and return it. Oh, like for one party? Like, I'm going to get this dress, leave the tag. I've never liked that tip. People like give that as a tip. Well, think about if you're the person now buying that dress that someone else wore and the store doesn't know. I know. You don't know. Yeah, it just feels like, it just feels wrong. You have to do a smell test. Oh, man, that's so unfortunate. Yeah, I don't love that one. I'm going to go tacky. All right, BYO.

Dessert. I once received a wedding invitation on very fancy stationery. Appreciate that. Encouraging guests to contribute to the BYO dessert spread. Is this a church potluck? Shoot. Yeah, that's the thing. When you're invited places, a wedding, can I say that? Probably over any other event or situation.

You are inviting people as a guest to celebrate you. They do not need to contribute to the situation. Bring a gift. Now, friends coming over for dinner. I was going to say even birthday party, but that even feels a little odd. Like, yeah, I don't know. A wedding, having people help contribute to the wedding, it does not feel like they're a guest at that point. And I don't trust desserts. Like, if you bring a congealed salad to my wedding, it's over. You've ruined the entire party. What's a congealed? What?

What is it? Where they put like the green jello and stuff with cottage cheese. Gross. Who makes that? Southern women. It's a delicacy in the South, apparently. The word congealed is enough, like bad branding. They need new PR. If you're going to put cottage cheese in a dessert. Gross. With jello, it's disgusting. Hey, it's good protein. No, but I agree with you. What would you bring to a wedding? Let's say you're coming to my wedding and I said, Rachel, you have to bring a dessert. What are you bringing? I'm going to...

Aldi and picking up some pre-made cookies. Smart. Bringing them to the... I'm not making anything. Would you act like you made it? Would you put it on a nice platter? Let me say this. If I was invited to your wedding and it was just like your family and Whitney's family and like three best friends...

I would make you a cake. Wow. From the box, but I would make a cake. That's so kind. But if it's like a massive wedding, I ain't baking for that. Yeah. No one knows what it is either, right? It doesn't say my name on it. You'd have to bring like- So the performer in me doesn't need to perform because I won't get credit. Yeah, you need signage. I got to know what's in that thing, when it was made. Just skip dessert if that's going to be you.

All right, next up on the frugal wedding fail, wedding fund, arrow, down payment. Here we go. When I got engaged, my parents told me they had $40,000 saved in a wedding fund for me to put toward this season. They said I could use it on anything, wedding, honeymoon, housing, et cetera. We used $20,000 for the wedding, plus cash flowed a few expenses ourselves, and put $20,000 toward a down payment on a house. So smart. No regrets. Tactful.

Very tactful. Would you do that as a parent? I'm thinking through that now. I have a daughter. I'm like, one day I'm going to pay for a wedding. Yes. Do I want to say, here's a pile of money. Use as much of it to the wedding as you want. Use as much of it towards something else if you want. Yes. I think that's great. Mom and dad did that for us. Oh, nice. Yes.

And then you got to choose. I didn't save any of it. All to the wedding. All to the wedding. Used every penny and more. Yes. And I remember Winston being like, babe, you know, it would be nice to like, you know, have some money set aside for like life, you know, furniture, like just the simple things in life. And you said no. I wasn't like no, but I was like, yeah, we could see what happens at the end of this.

I don't know. Part of me goes like, do I want to just say this is for the wedding? Because otherwise, if it's me, I'd go, how do we have the cheapest wedding possible so we can have the most money for a bigger financial goal? But what is going to be a longer term? Happiness, joy, et cetera. And I think it's- It's putting it toward the further financial goals. I think it is too.

I wonder if mom and dad cringed when I chose to spend it all. I think they assumed that would happen with you in particular. You're known as the spender in the Ramsey family. I actually think Daniel may have saved some. I'm not kidding. Which makes a lot more sense.

He's the kind of guy who's going, we're spending how much on that? No, let's skip that. He's very reasonable. But I think that I like that. I like that approach. If you're able to do that, I don't know. I think it's kind of cool. Say here's a pile of money. Use it however you wish. But I would say the caveat is you cannot go into debt.

Oh, so you got a little strings attached, Georgie. Yeah, I would have some strings. We're going to do this wedding debt-free. You can use this money how you wish, but you got to cover it. Even if Mia is 28 years old? Even if. No debt for little Mia. All right, here's a little strings attached gift. I'll make sure of that. I'm going to freeze her credit. She couldn't if she wanted to.

But she's going to be smart enough that she's going to avoid that. She'll avoid it. And knowing me, I'll probably throw in a pony and just say, get the wedding in your dreams, you're my little princess. Sweet.

Although we had a camel at our wedding, so to have a pony is actually not that far-fetched. Not that crazy. Not that crazy. I love it. Okay, and what is wild that is so different from when I got married is so much of the planning you do is online. Yes. Everything's online. Everything's online. And so when you put your information online for wedding planning or anything else— Invitations, checking out on any website. Yes, that data brokers can come in, get your information, and sell it to other companies—

and you get scams and spams and all the things. And that's why Delete Me is one of the best services because they go in and do that. They delete you from the internet. And that is what we want. It's the best. And they search thousands and thousands of these data broker sites. They've removed me from already over 250 of these sites. They've saved me over 86 hours of time. It would have taken me...

to find it, fill out all the forms, check up on it, make sure it got removed. And they've saved me a lot of time and they've given me a lot of peace. So if you want to get away from the tacky data brokers, go for the tactful service provided by Delete.me. We'll drop a link in the description or go to joindelete.me.com slash smartmoney and you'll get 20% off any of their annual payments. Okay, you're at 86. I'm at 66 hours that they've saved me. Wow, you're catching up. I'm up there. I'm up there. But it is wild to see the information they remove.

It's like my kids' names and stuff. Yes. It's wild. It's wild what's out there. And I added my parents to it. I got them on Delete Me Now. Oh, good. So if you're worried about the boomers in your life, get them the gift that keeps on giving. So good. So that you don't have to do tech support one day when they go, I got scammed. I got scammed. Unbelievable. Georgie, help me. I love where that accent took me. What a journey that accent was. All right, next. Asking reception guests to fund honeymoon. Oh.

I went to a wedding at a very fancy music hall and museum downtown. The groom's father, a wealthy business owner, said it was a tradition in their family to ask everyone at the reception to fill a beach hat with honeymoon cash. They passed it around and asked us all to contribute. Taxful or tacky? It depends. Was this the gift or was this on top of the gift they brought? It was then like a love offering. I'm going to say on top of the gift.

Okay, can I, okay, I'm so fickle on this. Like that, when I first read it, I thought, and then as it was going down, I was like, oh, it's like a tradition. Because I do think, especially different cultures and stuff, people do that. They give cash and like, it's like a thing. So for me, I would caveat it. If it's like a tradition, like a thing that you just do and it's fun and it's not serious, like, you know what I mean? Like it's out of just like the fun spirited of it all. That doesn't bother me.

Can I say this? And I hope I don't step on anyone's toes in here. I've gotten married recently. I don't know. I'm just going to say it. But like a QR code for a GoFundMe or something feels different. I don't like that. Like that feels tacky to me. But cash is fine.

Yeah, with like, we're going to do a song and like we've done it for five generations. Oh, now there's songs involved? Music and like, do you know what I'm saying? Like there's like a fun spirit about it versus like you need to go fund my honeymoon for me. Okay. Now we know Rachel loves a physical love offering. Pass around the bucket. Do you feel that at all or are you good with it all? I do think there's a level of QR code that feels a little less personal.

You know, no one's like, it's been a tradition for 50 years that we pass around the QR code versus there's a beach hat. It's a fun thing. I think the honeymoon's going to happen with or without this beach hat getting funded. Yes, that's a good way of putting it. So it's more of just like a, hey, have fun on the honeymoon, a little send off. But I can tell this person is a little bit miffed that this is clearly a wealthy family.

asking for more money. Yeah, yes. She keeps saying, very fancy, wealthy business owner. I don't know why I'm assuming it's a she, but this feels like something a woman would have umbrage with. Oh my gosh. Would take umbrage. What do you think, tacky or tactful? If they already brought a gift, I'm going to say this is tacky. Okay.

Plus, I don't carry cash, so I would feel uncomfortable being like, ah, sorry, man. Like, don't have any on me. Don't have it, yeah. And then it feels weird to like do the Venmo. You've seen the cars that drive around like Nashville and there's a Venmo code. Yeah, what's that for? It's like, give to the bride. It's the bachelorette party. Oh, yes. And it's like, buy the bride a drink. Woo! Yeah, that's kind of fun. Have you ever done it? No, but I have Venmo'd people in life for things.

Okay. That's very specific. I appreciate that. No, I don't want to be like bragging, but I've run into situations at airports or even in the lobby here at Ramsey. Like people are here for special occasions and I, if the spirit leads, I will randomly. Wow. How do you find out their Venmo? I go and ask them. I'm like, do you have a Venmo? They're like, yeah. I'm like, all right. Dinner's on. That's so fun. Well, yeah. Ken and I just did that last week. There was a girl in for her birthday with her husband. That is so thoughtful. And it's from your personal Venmo. So it's that kind of stuff that you're like, I don't care.

I'll give you a little. That's fun. Wow. I think that's fun. And you're okay giving out your Venmo handle? Because then people can request money from you. That's what I would be doing if I knew your Venmo handle. Well, not like they can go into my bank account. No, but they can just request a million dollars from you. You can decline it, but you might accidentally fat finger it and say yes. Do you do?

That's my strategy is I just randomly find people on Venmo and request money. Stop, George. Have you ever Venmo'd someone for something like a drink or a... Yeah, I have. Or food or like fun. If it's like someone's birthday and I can't make it, I'll Venmo them for the drink. Like, hey... That's fun. Yeah.

I did accidentally Venmo the wrong person for something off Facebook Marketplace once. And I had to beg them for the money back. Was it like hundreds of dollars? It was probably 150 bucks or something. Oh, no. And I Venmoed to the wrong, you know, you're typing fast. The person's at your front door getting it. And so I Venmoed real quick and it was to the wrong person. And I had to message them and say, I'm so sorry. I know you have, you could keep the money if you wanted to, but please give me this money back. And they did. And they did.

It restored my faith in humanity. And it's great. Next up, Tackful or Tacky, family photographer. To save on photography, my friend's mother, a retired photographer, took the pictures. She walked down the aisle in her fancy mother-of-the-groom gown and corsage and then scooted out on the front row and started crouching in the aisle with a cannon. It was distracting, and honestly, at her age, I felt bad for her joints. Oh, no. Oh.

Oh, that's kind of tacky. You kind of just, oh no, you do feel bad for her. Now, did they pay her anything or did she volunteer? I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. Was this an elderly woman? The mother of... Retired. Let's say she's in her 60s or beyond. If she's a retired photographer. But you can't enjoy the moment of a wedding that is your son or daughter.

Yeah, it says my friend's mother. So that's all we know. But I think it is distracting. But she's in like her like gown. Yeah. Yeah, no. And you've seen a photographer with the wags. They'll do anything to get the shot. So they're not crawling on the ground. They're leaning over. So to see like an older woman do that, I would feel bad. In a gown. In a gown. Especially if you know like we didn't pay her very much or at all to do this.

It's her mother, though. Like, you know what I mean? This is the groom or bride's mother doing it. Well, it said my friend's mother. Yeah, exactly. This person went to their friend's wedding. It would be like me going to your wedding. Like, I went to a friend's wedding and say, your mom ended up being the photographer of your wedding. Oh, got it. Yeah, because it says mother of the groom gown. Yes. What if your mom— No. No.

I know. I wouldn't let her do it. I know. I'm going to say tacky. First of all, you want them to enjoy the wedding. Second of all, I'm not making my mom do jack squat on my wedding day. Yes, I know.

Yeah. All right. Next, Trader Joe's flowers. So there was a wedding where Costco never delivered the flowers on the wedding day. Oh, no. So all the bridesmaids drove around to every Trader Joe's in Nashville and bought all the white flowers, making the table arrangements, the bouquets, all of that. Costco gave a refund and the floor budget ended up costing just over a couple of hundred bucks. This

This is tactful, 100%. Tactful, 100%. It can be tacky. Kato Joe's has great flowers. Amen. Hallelujah. Yeah. That's awesome. And they are very inexpensive comparatively too. Yes. And I get it. Support your local florist. Don't come at me, florists. You know they're going to come at us, Rachel. They're going to get mad. We provide a service. Okay. We get it. You're great at what you do.

No shade to florists, but this is a good way in a bind to make it happen. All right, next up on the frugal wedding fails, wedding attendance fee. I already don't like where this one's going. I heard about a family friend who charged an attendance fee at their wedding, 150 bucks per person and $50 for kids under 10. Stop it. Tactful or tacky? I don't know how you could say tactful.

You charge people to come to your wedding? That's crazy. That's crazy. That's crazy. We got to draw the line somewhere. Can I tell you the part that I do? I get why people do it. I would never do it. I think it's tacky. What? But if people don't show up after they RSVP, yes, I've heard of people sending a bill. Oh, that's tacky. Which is so tacky, but also I love the pettiness of it. You would love it. Because this happened at our wedding. I know because I marked down who didn't show up. George. George.

Listen, you know how, like you're getting charged per plate, per seat. Yeah, agreed. We wouldn't have been friends right now. This podcast would not exist. This podcast would not have existed. Like let them know if you can't make it. I think it's super rude to RSVP guests to a wedding where you know it's costing them 100 plus per person. Oh man. So it hurts my soul. I just have a list in my phone and I'm not over it. But I did not send them a bill. If it makes you feel better.

But doing the math. I think I've done this, y'all. You've ditched on weddings you said yes to? Yeah. Wow. Were they close friends or like, eh? No, not necessarily. You get invited to like random people's weddings. Like fans of this show have invited you to their wedding. Well, yeah, but I don't RSVP yes to those. Have you thought about it though? No. Do you ever send like a gift? To be moved?

Oh, oh, oh, I see what you're saying. I've done that. I've sent them like Financial Peace University on me. Don't start DMing me with that. I will not. Now I know. Sure. If it happens in the future, I'm not falling for it. Tacky. Unbelievable. But I think they invite us because they're like, maybe they'll send us something.

Okay, yeah. Have you heard about this? People, now we're not celebrities by any stretch. But they do like invite celebrities. People invite celebrities. They find their address, the PR person, and they'll send wedding invites. And they end up getting some nice gifts out of it. Yeah, you know, not bad. I like the effort.

I respect the hustle on that one. Oh my gosh, y'all. That is... I'm like sweating thinking about all this. That is so funny. Oh man. Let's talk about non-negotiables. So what are things that you were like, if you're going to plan a wedding, you got to have these things. And if you're going to skip some things, I would skip these. I would go, I would want a great photographer. Yeah.

I would, but not the most expensive because there's some great ones, photographers that are like up and coming. You know what I mean? Yeah. I don't know. Okay, I want good music at the reception. A live band would be like ideal. Oh, you want a live band? Oh, I'd love it. Yes. So fun. So fun. A DJ would be next for me. Okay. But I think, yeah, good music, dancing. I want the party aspect, if you will. I would have a day of coordinator. Okay.

I think it's always really helpful to have someone that's like doing, helping you on it. I think it's worth the money. Yeah. How about you? Definitely a good photographer. I would say as much as I love video and we did have a videographer, it was a friend of ours, so it wasn't super expensive. But video is one that I find myself not going back to watch the wedding tape. Yes. And I don't know that your grandkids want it. Like they'll see the photos. That's enough. If you wanted to save on something, again, no shade to videographers. You're doing great work.

The other one would be a DJ. I could skip the live band only because when live bands are there, I feel like it's always so loud. Oh, okay. I want to escape. Like I want to go to the lobby or something and it's just sensory overload. Too much. Okay. But I think a good DJ or at the minimum a really good playlist is—

will hit. Yeah, that's fun. And then good food. It doesn't have to be a sit-down dinner. I'm good with like a really good buffet. Yeah. It could be tacos. I don't care. Yeah, but just have some great food. But some sustenance and drinks are a plus. Drinks are a plus. I've been to some dry weddings.

They are less exciting. You're not going to get as many people on the dance floor. The party will end about two hours earlier than you want it to. Just know that. That's probably true. Ahead of time. And then I would say a planner for sure. Like they have coordinator minimum, but a planner will save your life. You can't care about what people think in life, but I do think there is a, is quorum the right word? There is a- Decorum. Decorum of humanity, of manners and etiquette, like-

To be a human. Keep it classy. Yeah. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, there's like, I don't know, a level there. But I guess still do, you do you. You do you. And people will think. Regardless of how it affects your personal brand. That's right. But it will. It can affect it. But also, honestly, if you are planning a wedding, like, do it on a budget because this is one event event.

That gets so out of control so quickly. The expenses are insane. So if you need every dollar, use an every dollar budget for your wedding planning. Yeah, create like an extra free account that's just for the wedding. Yes, so smart. I had a Google sheet that was...

Very complicated. But I had to keep track of everything. I needed the link to where I bought it from, what the estimated versus what the actual. So I nerded out too hard, but it did keep us under budget. Yeah, so great. And remember, you know, the wedding's one day. Your marriage is a lifetime. So take some of that money if you get some and pay for therapy.

That's a great idea. Maybe that's even better than a dump payment. Can you imagine if you said, hey, therapy for a couple, let's call it 250 bucks. Like a year in. Get a year's worth of therapy. Premarital sometimes is like, eh, get a year in.

You're going to need it. You're going to need that $200 an hour therapist. And I would say like have your priorities and then say no to the rest. Yeah, totally. Like maybe you don't need the donut wall. Maybe you don't need the party favors. Yeah, yeah. Focus on the stuff that really matters. And then also call your list down. That was the most stressful part was having boundaries.

because my mom wanted to invite her friend that she hasn't seen in seven years. And I was like, Mom, we can't just have this open invite to everyone who wants to go. I know. And that's hard if they are paying for the wedding too. That's the other thing. If you're not paying for it, there are strings attached. It's tricky. So be careful who you accept the help from. Oh, so good. Weddings. We're out of that season though. We don't get invited to many weddings these days. I can't remember the last time I got invited. We should go to one, George. Let's find someone. I've had someone here at—

Ramsey's getting married soon. Oh, yeah. Let's ask them to invite us. Maybe they're in the room. We don't know. We'll go party the night away. I don't know.

I don't know. Oh, man. All right. Before we spill the tea in our guiltiest charge segments, let's share what we're drinking, George. This is a Aperol Tequila Sour. And based on how much you had, you liked it a little more than me, which is great. The cost breakdown is $2.82 per glass. Here's what's in it for curious minds. Tequila, Aperol,

You guessed those two. Strawberry syrup, lemon juice, egg white, and some Angostura bitters. There's an egg white in here? That's what's causing the foaminess. Because I'm not usually an egg white person. Have you had like a good whiskey sour? They'll do an egg white in there if it's made properly. Yeah, I guess that's true. Yes. So that part, you got to be into that. This feels like summer to me. Yeah, it is a very summery drink. It's very light and smooth while having a complexity that I really enjoy. So I'm going to go 8 out of 10 on this one. I'm going...

I may go 10 out of 10. That's a big win. I would order this. This would be a great lunch cocktail. Like if you're out with friends on a patio, getting some lunch. It feels like a day drink. Is it a taco situation? No. No. What are you eating with this? I feel like this is a patio at Bar Taco in Nashville situation. Okay. Yeah, you're right. That's where I go with it. You're right.

Yeah. Maybe it's just me. Yeah. I'm going a little chips and guac. A lot of apps. I'm feeling apps. Top us. Top us. Small plates. Top us lunch with this cocktail. 10 out of 10. Top us the morning to you. Love it. I'm going to be very specific. Get the recipe in the show notes. Give it a try this weekend and see if it is really a 10 out of 10. All right. Now it's time for Guilty as Charged. And this is where we ask each other a new guilty as charged question every week. And if we're guilty, we take a sip.

Here it is. It's wedding related. Have you ever regifted or returned a wedding gift and it backfired? Yes. Yeah. Cheers to that. Yeah. Cheers to backfiring. I think I've said this on the show. I've told this story on the show before. But we got a wedding gift and it was a great gift. We just would never use it. And we ended up, I ended up regifting it to a friend six months later for her wedding. Yeah.

And I left part of the original wrapping paper at the bottom of it. And I put it in a gift bag and when she took it out, she was like, here's some other wrapping paper. Oh. Straight up asked me. Hey, did you re-gift this? And I was like, oh, man. You got it. So you need to do a full 360 view at the gift. You got to really make sure.

Oh, gosh. So bad. We had one. I was broke. I spent all my money on my wedding. Six months later, I didn't have a lot. And if it's a good gift, who cares? You know what I mean? Yeah. If it's something they would want and they would use, I don't care if you re-gifted me something. Thanks. How about you? We got some silverware for our wedding, as one does, and it was gold. And we decided, you know what we want with the silver? It's a little cheaper. We can get more of it.

So we went to return it. They couldn't do it. This place, this fancy place could not do a return. They're like, we just don't do that. So I had to meet them at the old Ramsey building to do this exchange to return it. And when they returned it, they sent the new one for an exchange to the people who bought it for us.

So then we had to contact them like, hey, you're going to get a package. It's nothing malign. We just accidentally, it was just- Oh, you did a return and they sent the- They sent it to the person who bought it for us, which they obviously found out at that point that we did not want what they gave us. So it just created a really awkward situation. The whole thing was just a cluster. Do you still see those people today?

I think I've seen them one time since that happened. Okay, that's good. They're very nice. Yeah, that makes it feel better, yeah. But just be careful out there, guys. It's a dark world. It's a wild world out there. Get your foundations, you know. Control what you can control, you know. Stick to the— Great advice. Just keep it. It's just a lot. Just keep it. You know what's fun? Amazon stuff. You see the little QR code that comes with it? And it's like, let them know what you think.

Well, if someone sends you something anonymously and you scan that code, it'll have their name on the like, thank you. Who sends you stuff anonymously? It happened one time and it was really awkward. I got a vinyl record sent to the office and I was like, who sent this? I'll never know.

But you scanned the QR code? And I scanned the QR code, and it's had their name. And I reached out to them and confronted them. Yes. And what did they say? And they were like, what? No, I didn't. I was like, it had your name. And they're like, oh, gosh. And they were really embarrassed. Why are they embarrassed? I'm so confused. I don't know. To this day, the whole thing was very strange. That is so weird. You get so many fun, awkward moments in your life, George. Thank you for saying they're fun. I want some. I find them pain-inducing. I want some. But I'm glad my trauma is your joy. Yeah.

It's a true friend. Oh, man, you guys. Well, if you enjoyed this episode, make sure to leave a review. Make sure to subscribe. And also, you'll love the next episode coming up, spilling the financial tea with our better halves because weddings mean love. And George and I have a good time.

Have loves of our own. I have Winston. And they love being on this show. It was one of our top performing episodes. Yeah, it was great. You guys, you wanted the juice and you got it. You did, yeah. You'll enjoy it. You'll enjoy it. But we'll see you guys next Thursday on our new episode of Smart Money Happy Hour.